


Family

by KniiightMare



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic Fluff, Drabble, F/M, Family, Gen, Phone Calls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 02:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15653868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KniiightMare/pseuds/KniiightMare
Summary: Jackie can pinpoint the exact moment John Smith became family to her.





	Family

Jackie’s in the middle of putting the roast in the oven when the phone rings.

“Do you want me to get that, mum?” Rose calls out from the living room.

“It’s all right, sweetie, I’ve got it!” She calls back as she closes the oven door and pulls off the mitts.

She picks up the phone from where she’s left it on the kitchen countertop, not quite sure who’d be calling on the landline right before dinnertime. She answers it all the same.

“Tyler residence.”

“Hi, Jackie.” She stills. John sounds absolutely knackered, voice low and quiet. It’s a stark contrast to his usually enthusiastic tone.

“You alright? You sound like you’re about to fall over.” She manages to mostly keep the sharp tone of voice she usually uses with him (she thinks he’d prefer that over her making a fuss), but she can’t stop a little bit of motherly worry from seeping in as well. Instinct, she figures.

“The meeting, it was… A lot.” His voice is thin, and she can hear the small sigh he heaves through the receiver.

“Right.” She doesn’t push him, just shows she’s listening. He’ll get where he’s going if she just gives him time.

“I’m just...” he proves her right. “To be honest I feel quite shit.”

She stays silent now, waits for him to continue. It sounds like he’s begging off dinner, but he already mentioned yesterday that work would be rough today, warned that he probably wouldn’t make it for supper. She’d assured him that it was fine. Actually, she’d been quite content to have tonight with just her family. It’s not that she didn’t want him there, but him and Rose have been so connected at the hip since they started dating, and Jackie would be lying if she said she didn’t like the idea of a good old-fashioned family dinner: just herself, Pete and the kids. But she feels that sentiment shift just the slightest as she waits for what he says next, knows it a second before he says it.

“D’you mind if I come over?” He sounds tiny. Like a child waking up their parent after a bad dream.

And just like that she’s changed her mind. She doesn’t want just Pete, Rose and Tony. She wants him there too. Needs him there too. Because he’s just been through the ringer and the one thing he wants is to come over and sit at her dinner table and eat her food, and hold Rose’s hand, and chat with Pete, and listen to Tony talk about school. He’s not just coming for Rose, she knows that. He’ll see her in a few hours anyway, and worn out or not, he can bloody well wait that long. No, he’s not coming for Rose. He’s coming for all of them. And that means it wouldn’t quite be family dinner without him, would it?

“Of course not. You come right over, love. Dinner’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”

Even over the bad reception and the background static, she’s certain she can hear the smile in his voice as he replies.

“I’ll be there in twenty.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a really short thing that I did because I felt like it. I hope you liked it and if you did, I would be thrilled if you left me a comment because they make me really happy :)
> 
> More drabbles/stories will probably show up in this sort of universe (I have all the specifics of the world and the relationships planned out and everything) so keep an eye out for that if you're into human AUs!


End file.
